Chickpea Flour

[WhateverYouWant]

When I make falafel, I use a little AP flour to help bind it. But I just watched a Molly Baz makes video on falafel. While I didn't agree with everything she did (not enough garlic, and eeeek! cardamom!!!), she instead used chickpea flour.

Chickpea flour!? Never heard of it, but seems to make sense over AP flour. So before dumping a cup of dried chickpeas into the Vitamix and grinding the bejeezus out of them, I Googled it. What I found was three different sets of directions...

1.) Dump a cup or two of dried chickpeas into a high speed blender.

2.) Soak the chickpeas overnight, and then dehydrate them before processing in blender. One incarnation of this method involved removing the "skin" of the hydrated chickpeas before dehydrating them.

3.) Soak, leave out overnight on paper towels to dry, microwave for 9 minutes, and then blend.

Then I spied an ad spot for "Bob's Red Mill natural foods" that said they "grind whole, dried garbanzo beans" to make their garbanzo bean flour.

So am I overthinking this (which I have a tendency to do), or is there any benefit in methods 2 & 3 above?

 

[taxlady]

I think the benefit of #s 2 & 3 are that they can probably be done in a regular blender. I think #1 would require a Vitamix.

 

[pepperhead212]

My first thought, when reading step 2, was why remove the skin, if it will be re-dehydrated, then ground up? I can see doing this when making things with whole garbanzos, so the skins aren't all over, but would this soften them at all? I'm sure some beneficial fiber, and other nutrients, is removed with the skin.

You may be able to find chick pea flour - a.k.a. besan - in supermarkets, these days, depending on where you live. And Bob's Red Mill products in some supermarkets, plus most health food stores. I get mine at Indian markets - cheaper, and fastest turnover anywhere.

 

[WhateverYouWant]

Just ran a cup or so through the Vitamix. 30 seconds later...

Looks and feels like flour to me (didn't even need to sift it). I'll be making falafel tomorrow and we'll see if I notice a difference versus AP flour.

 

[pepperhead212]

Great Scott! (sorry, I couldn't resist. ). I forgot you had a VM, so you can make your own. I still buy it at the Indian market, since I use quite a bit of it, but the other flours I need smaller amounts of, I do in the VM.

 

[WhateverYouWant]

I use quite a bit of it

May I ask what you use it for?

 

[pepperhead212]

May I ask what you use it for?

Mostly Indian food, though I have used it in other things, like you're talking about. And one of things I get in the Indian market, that I really like, is the black besan, which is a flour made with black chickpeas, one of my favorite legumes. But that's for another discussion. There are countless Indian dishes using besan, not just flatbreads. And a number of them call for toasting the flour in a dry pan, to increase the flavor. I sometimes do this with some of the lentils, when I'm going to make flour out of them - I toast them whole, before grinding them, to give extra flavor.

 

[WhateverYouWant]

Mostly Indian food ... not just flatbreads

Oohh, flatbread with chickpea flour. Sounds like it could be great. Care to share a recipe?

 

[pepperhead212]

Here's a basic recipe that I use, Scott. I put different seasonings in them, depending on what I'm serving them with. Some are 100% besan, but those are usually the ones that are fried; the dry ones usually need some wheat flour, to help hold it together. The WW flour used in the Indian breads is usually durum, a.k.a. atta flour, which you have to check carefully - often, it is not 100% WW.

Missi Roti

1 cup chickpea flour
½ cup atta flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup yogurt
Water, if needed

Process the first 3 ingredients in food processor briefly to mix (or mix everything by hand in a bowl, and knead briefly, getting the moisture to the proper level) , then add the yogurt, and process until it forms a ball. Check the dough - if sticky, add a bit more atta, if too dry (you want it workable, and almost, but quite not sticky), add a bit of water (usually, a couple more tb may be needed). Process 30 seconds, then place in a covered bowl, and let rest 1-4 hours.

Divide dough into 9-10 pieces, and place back in the bowl. Preheat a CI skillet or griddle, while preparing the roti. I press them in a tortilla press; if rolling on a board, dust it, and the balls, when rolling. Roll or press to about 7" - about 1/8" thick. Place on the heated pan, and brush the top side with ghee or oil. In 30 sec. ,or when the bottom gets some brown spotting, flip it, brush again, and cook about a minute (while getting the next one ready). Flip and cook another 30 sec or so, until brown spots all over, maybe flipping one more time. Serve immediately, or save, and reheat, when used.

There are also a lot of Italian chickpea flatbreads out there.

 

[taxlady]

Here's a basic recipe that I use, Scott. I put different seasonings in them, depending on what I'm serving them with. Some are 100% besan, but those are usually the ones that are fried; the dry ones usually need some wheat flour, to help hold it together. The WW flour used in the Indian breads is usually durum, a.k.a. atta flour, which you have to check carefully - often, it is not 100% WW.

Missi Roti

1 cup chickpea flour
½ cup atta flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup yogurt
Water, if needed

Process the first 3 ingredients in food processor briefly to mix (or mix everything by hand in a bowl, and knead briefly, getting the moisture to the proper level) , then add the yogurt, and process until it forms a ball. Check the dough - if sticky, add a bit more atta, if too dry (you want it workable, and almost, but quite not sticky), add a bit of water (usually, a couple more tb may be needed). Process 30 seconds, then place in a covered bowl, and let rest 1-4 hours.

Divide dough into 9-10 pieces, and place back in the bowl. Preheat a CI skillet or griddle, while preparing the roti. I press them in a tortilla press; if rolling on a board, dust it, and the balls, when rolling. Roll or press to about 7" - about 1/8" thick. Place on the heated pan, and brush the top side with ghee or oil. In 30 sec. ,or when the bottom gets some brown spotting, flip it, brush again, and cook about a minute (while getting the next one ready). Flip and cook another 30 sec or so, until brown spots all over, maybe flipping one more time. Serve immediately, or save, and reheat, when used.

There are also a lot of Italian chickpea flatbreads out there.

Where is the moisture coming from?

 

[pepperhead212]

Where is the moisture coming from?

The initial moisture comes from the yogurt - in the summer, not much extra is usually needed, but when the air gets dried out, I always add a little water. But it can also depend on the yogurt used - whole fat has a little less water, but some fat, that makes it a little less sticky. After a while, you get used to it, like when getting the right moisture in tortilla dough.

 

[taxlady]

The initial moisture comes from the yogurt - in the summer, not much extra is usually needed, but when the air gets dried out, I always add a little water. But it can also depend on the yogurt used - whole fat has a little less water, but some fat, that makes it a little less sticky. After a while, you get used to it, like when getting the right moisture in tortilla dough.

I guess you didn't notice the bits of the quote that I highlighted in red.

You wrote to get the moisture to the proper level and then add the yogourt.

Maybe get one of the moderators to fix the post.

 

[pepperhead212]

I see what you were referring to. The reason I had that part in parentheses was if somebody didn't have a food processor, mix everything in a bowl - then I went back to the part where I was doing the recipe in the FP. Sorry if it was confusing.

 

[taxlady]

I see what you were referring to. The reason I had that part in parentheses was if somebody didn't have a food processor, mix everything in a bowl - then I went back to the part where I was doing the recipe in the FP. Sorry if it was confusing.

Yeah, I read it several times and wondered if you had left out an ingredient.

 

[WhateverYouWant]

Exercise in Futility

Didn't really notice and difference in flavor or texture. What I did notice is that it didn't bind as well as AP flour.